Russia Questions E.U. Outreach to the East

By STEPHEN CASTLE

Published: April 29, 2009

BERLIN -- Nine days before the European Union will offer closer ties to six former Soviet republics, Russia expressed clear misgivings Tuesday about the plan, which it regards as an effort to boost European influence in an area that Moscow considers its backyard.

Speaking in Luxembourg on Tuesday after talks with the European Union, the Russian foreign minister, Sergey V. Lavrov, appeared unconvinced by E.U. assurances that the bloc is not trying to meddle in the region.

''We would like very much to believe this,'' Mr. Lavrov said at a news conference. He added that ''some of the commentaries about this initiative that we have heard coming from the E.U. side do worry us.''

He said Moscow would ''wait and see'' what practical results emerge from a meeting next week in Prague, at which the E.U. plans to offer the six countries -- Ukraine, Moldova, Georgia, Belarus, Armenia and Azerbaijan -- closer economic and political integration with Europe, and to present the 27-nation bloc as an alternative to Russia as a regional power center.

The initiative is seen as a test of the E.U.'s determination to forge a more coherent policy in a region where Moscow exerts considerable power.

The new tension comes at a time when relations between the E.U. and Russia are already strained following the war last summer in Georgia and a dispute over energy in January that led to the disruption of Russian gas deliveries to much of Europe.

In a sign of its determination to step up engagement with its eastern neighbors, the E.U. has overcome its reservations about the human rights record of Belarus and included the country in the proposed new agreement, called the Eastern Partnership. It also proposes to lift a travel embargo on the president of Belarus, Alexandr G. Lukashenko.

Whether the summit meeting in Prague will meet expectations remains unclear. The authority of the government of the Czech Republic, which holds the rotating E.U. presidency and which will preside over the summit, was severely weakened when the government fell last month.

Meanwhile, E.U. hopes of engaging the bloc's eastern neighbors have been hampered by instability in the region, particularly in Ukraine and Moldova.

The German foreign minister, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, on Tuesday called for greater European involvement in the rapidly deteriorating situation in Ukraine. Meeting here with reporters, Mr. Steinmeier called for an E.U. mission to Kiev to try to help resolve the growing political and economic crisis that threatens to destabilize the country.

Cristina Gallach, spokeswoman for the European foreign policy chief, Javier Solana, said Solana was ready to continue engaging with the Ukrainian leaders but does not have plans to visit Kiev immediately.